Wash Away
by Gwilwileth of Imladris
Summary: Aragorn learns what the true strenght of Men is and that the one who shows him bares scars. AragornEowyn . No Romance. complete. Re-done


Wash Away  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Lord of the Rings and all its characters are property of Mr. Tolkien and the song "Wash Away Those Years" is property of the music group Creed and can be found on their CD "Human Clay."  
  
AN: This story is being re-posted because it was beta read by DisgruntledPirate from the RPG Board, Worlds Apart! Go there sometime and check it out. I would be on it more if my computer wasn't so freakin' slow.  
  
Summary: Aragorn learns that ladies carry wounds on the mind and soul that can only be washed cleaned by time.. and some never fade. Also he learns what the true strength of Men is.  
  
It is the calm before the storm. Theoden has order that every man able to move (be fitted in the armory and ready for battle by nightfall. Orcs do not like sunlight, but these travel in it at great speed. But still, these are orcs and orcs know humans have weak vision at night. I notice the incoming clouds. Orcs know for certain that humans have no real vision on dark, moon-less nights. I watch as the women and children are rounded up into the Keep. There I see the Lady Eowyn wandering numbly from the safety of the Keep.  
  
*She came calling one early morning *  
  
I hear her mutter to a guard, "I do not wish to be locked away like a horse in a barn until it is necessary." She walks over to me with concern in her eyes, and weariness. I notice that she has this weariness around many men, but it is only in her eyes. In her posture she is the proud White Lady of Rohan, Sixth Marshall of the Mark and niece to King Theoden. Ready to die for her people if it came to that. I admire her strength. Perhaps that his what made me lash out at Legolas in the armory? 'Then I will die as one of them.' My own words sound alien to my ears, for I have never found a reason to fight for the sake my own race. Upon on her wrists I see faint scars.  
  
*She showed her crown of thorns  
  
She whispered softly to tell a story about how she had been wrong*  
  
"He bestowed these 'gifts' to me, " she whispers to the twilight as she takes a seat by me on the wall. "When I was no more than a child of twelve." I do not have to ask her who "he" is. I believe I already know. In the time I have been here many have told stories about Wormtonge and his unhealthy obsession with the lady. She readjusts her sleeves to hide the scars.  
  
*As she lay life less he stole her innocence *  
  
"He would hit me sometimes. When I was little.. I'd tell Eomer but he'd claim it was just playing and that he got a little too rough, seeing as how he was bigger than me. So would my uncle, knowing how much he loved to play with Eomer and me when we where little and he had time. My Uncle never had a reason to distrust him; he held him in high standing. He never hurt me in front of them, or left marks where they could see," she says more to the approaching night than to me.  
  
*And this how she carried on  
  
This is how she carried on *  
  
"I couldn't understand why he could be so nice at one moment and then a complete monster to me at the drop of a hat. When I was eleven my nursemaid told me that men where temperamental creatures and that if a man punished you, you had done something to deserve it. But I didn't deserve the things he would do when we were alone and he was enraged. I would go to bed every night just pretending that he was not himself and would be better in the morning." Tears begin to form in her eyes. I sit ever patient. The more she talks, the more I believe not Wormtounge but another has wronged the Lady.  
  
*Well I guess she closed her eyes  
  
And just imagined everything's alright  
  
But she could not hide her tears  
  
'Cause they where sent to wash away those years*  
  
She continues to speak as the sun slowly sets. The sounds of men preparing for battle are muted as she tells her tale. But never once does she look at me. The things I hear that were done to her make my skin crawl and my stomach churn. I begin to wonder if she is talking about an orc tormenting her rather than a person. I am sickened and appalled by what she tells me but say nothing. I am going to let her get it all out. Her last confession if you will, before tonight.  
  
*My anger's violent but still I'm silent  
  
When tragedy strikes at home  
  
I know this decadence is shared by millions  
  
Remembered of long ago  
  
Remembered of long ago*  
  
She tells me how this man would hurt her sometimes, and other times that he would be kind to her. How she believed that they where at times two of him, but she never says "his" name. She closes her eyes and takes a shuddering breath, tears spilling over her cheeks. Hastily she wipes them away.  
  
*Well, if you just close your eyes and just imagine everything's all right  
  
But do not hide your tears  
  
'Cause they were sent to wash away those years*  
  
She tells me that she fought him, would claw at his chest, sometimes knocking him unconscious with her fists. As she grew older she would run to the safety of the crowds of people in the Golden Hall, waiting there until he publicly requested her company.  
  
*Well, if you just close your eyes and just imagine everything's all right  
  
But do not hide your tears  
  
'Cause they where sent to wash away those years *  
  
She is sobbing openly now and I take this opportunity to offer her whatever small comfort I can. I cradle her in my arms and let her cry into my clothes. My shoulder is now soaked in tears but I care not.  
  
*They were sent to wash away those years  
  
Maybe we can wash away those years *  
  
Her cries are silent; she makes no sound, yet I know she is still crying. The sun is almost touching the ground, and I know she will be hurled back into the Keep soon by one of the guards so that she may watch over the women and children. I can tell that she has never cried over this, never had any who offered her comfort on this matter. So I just hold her.  
  
*For we have crossed oceans  
  
And we labor in between  
  
In life there are many equations  
  
And I hope I find the mean*  
  
She tells me of her attempts to speak with Theoden on the matter, but that Theoden would not listen to her and would brush it off as some feminine delusion. And how eventually, by the time she was eighteen, she didn't speak of it to anyone, for none believed her.  
  
*Well, if you just close your eyes and just imagine everything's alright  
  
But do not hide your tears  
  
'Cause they were sent to wash away those years*  
  
The sun is almost completely gone from view, and rain begins to fall. Men begin to pour out of the armory, to line up along the wall with their weapons. "I did not want to hate him for it," she says, staring at the ground, "but I did hate him. I never knew truly why he did those things to me, and then treated me kindly the next day.and I never will. I never will for he is dead."  
  
*Well, if you just close your (close you eyes) and just imagine everything's  
  
all right*  
  
I speak to her for the first time since she sat by beside me. "Who?"  
  
*But do not hide your tears (hide your tears) *  
  
She looks me in the eye for the first time, tears falling. "Theodred."  
  
*They were sent to wash away those years*  
  
As if summoned, one of the guards then drags her to the safety of the Keep despite her protests. I am sick inside to think that one of her own family could do that. I know now, truly know, why elves say the strength of Men is faded. Men are weak, cruel and destroy everything that is good.  
  
*Maybe we can wash away those years *  
  
But then I think back to what she has told me. How she endured such pain since she was twelve, how she put on a brave face and woke up every morning knowing Theodred would cause her more pain, then to have Wormtounge haunt her steps once she was a grown woman. Elves look for the Strength of Men only in its Kings and male warriors.  
  
*I hope that you can wash away those years *  
  
They look in the wrong place. For in the Lady Eowyn I see the strength of Men. The strength to endure.  
  
The End  
  
Ok now everyone has permission to flame and kill me for this one. I won't even put up a fight. And don't ask me where this plot bunny came from just be content to know that it's dead. *points at grave* 


End file.
